good evening, i'm anderson cooper. for nearly two weeks the story of hanna anderson has captured the nation. the story of betrayal of a family friend, pursuit by hundreds of law enforcement agents and dramatic shootout in the dense idaho wilderness. hear from friends, family and the people who helped save an innocent young girl. "kidnapped, the rescue of hanna anderson." >> reporter: what began with fire became murder and manhunt.

>> the level of intensity in this investigation is incredible. >> reporter: a best friend turned worst enemy. >> this gentleman was a friend of ours for a long time has taken everything. >> reporter: hundreds in desperate pursuit of one teen in grave danger. >> the amber alert was on. i see a picture of this blonde-haired girl. i said that's the girl we've seen up on the mountain. >> reporter: kidnapped, the rescue of hanna anderson. it was going to be a normal summer weekend, pop warner football for ethan. cheering practice for hannah. a road trip for the dog and mom christina to jim's house. he had been asking the andersons to visit for some time.

>> they were getting together for some type of family gathering. >> reporter: bill gore is san diego county sheriff. >> he led people to believe he was going to be losing his house and this would be a farewell party at his house. >> reporter: for hannah and ethan, the cabin had always been lots of fun. brett anderson is their father and christina's husband. >> the kids and myself in san diego would go up there and stay the night and we would ride a go cart or do whatever, you know? be like camping out because of his cabin. >> reporter: the man they called uncle jim, one of brett's best friends had known the kids since they were born. >> jim was a very good friend of the family. >> reporter: jennifer willis and christina grew up like sisters. jen and tysona part of big and boisterous extended family. >> he spent time with us and we loved him. he was fun. he was a great guy. tina was a good friend to him. he had been with her and her

entire family for many, many years while the kids were growing up. so i know she was always there for him as he had been for her. >> the relationship was crucial to him. >> reporter: andrew was a friend of dimaggio's. >> he had no other family. i think he had to find a surrogate family and that's what he did. >> reporter: for 16 years, dimaggio was part of the anderson family, even helping out with the kids when brett took a job in tennessee. >> woe help get my son to football practice on days that hannah had dance or whatever. he was constantly there for me. >> reporter: and constantly there with the kids. hannah was a typical teen. >> she's a little shy, little bit of a ham bone at the same time. she got an award at school. she's my pinky pal. we have a little pinky pal handshake we do.

she just started pop warner cheer. i think this was her second year because ethan was playing football for pop warner. she was going to be the cheerleader for his team. >> reporter: 8-year-old ethan loved football. even more, fishing. >> i love to fish. little "e" and i went about a month ago fishing at lake jennings. he was putting the worms on for me because they wrinkle up and are gross. i just remember him saying, aunt jen, i'll take care of that for you. i'll do that. i can do that. you don't have to touch those. when he got the fish out of the water, look, aunt jen, look what i got. it's your turn. >> reporter: tina was always there to help whether, a sick family member or friend that needed cheering up like jim. >> she was tired, busy, she had a lot going on. it was something that was a little bit difficult for her to

squeeze onto her busy schedule, but that's the kind of person she was. she did that for jim, to go up there and help comfort him in this time he begged for her help. >> reporter: tina, ethan and hannah had no idea uncle jim had other plans. saturday afternoon, august 3rd. hannah and jim dimaggio exchanged 13 calls before both phones were turned off. it was 4:00. but the same time ethan and hannah were last seen near lakeside. a day later on august 4th -- >> about 8:00 we get dispatched to a structure fire. >> reporter: john francois, battalion chief. >> there is not one piece of that house that was not on fire. >> reporter: the house was abass and so was the garage. >> they went into the detached garage looking for any fire

extension. they came across a body in that garage. >> reporter: andrew believes his friend was dead. >> we were grieving the death of jim and waiting confirmation it was jim that died in the house. >> reporter: but it wasn't jim. >> breaking today, you have an amber alert out west. a horrible situation, a raging fire just east of san diego and then a woman and child found dead inside. >> reporter: the woman was tina and the child, ethan. they had been beaten, bloodied, then burned. in the ashes of dimaggio's home, authorities found arson wire, a handwritten note, ammunition and letters from hannah. days later, speaking exclusively to cnn's chris cuomo, brett anderson was distraught. >> tell me about your kids, mr. anderson. tell me about hannah. tell me about ethan. >> give me a second. ethan wore his heart on his

sleeve. he would do anything for anybody. loved everybody. he was just my buddy. >> reporter: just like tina was jen's buddy. >> she was here at this exact table two weeks ago playing board games. and so that monday was the last time i saw her. and i've kept her texts because i can't -- i don't want to let go of the last little funny things we talked about. >> reporter: and hannah, she had disappeared. >> new information into cnn suggests that only hannah anderson may have been abducted. >> reporter: a manhunt began that would span five states and three countries. >> this manhunt has now stretched into mexico. >> reporter: critical hours and

days slid by as the manhunt continued. >> we didn't know what was going to happen with her. was his plan to run off? was it going to be a murder/suicide? >> reporter: august 6th, three days after hannah was last seen, brett had an urgent message for his daughter. >> hannah, we all love you very much. if you have a chance, you take it. you run. you'll be found. >> reporter: coming up, signs that the man hannah calls uncle jim had crossed the line. >> we were driving home and he just said that he had a crush on her. hey love.

[off screen] there you are. [speaking german] hi, grandpa! [off screen] give me a kiss! [speaking mandarin] what do you think? do you like it? [off screen] happy birthday! can you see that? [speaking polish] [off screen] did he apologize? [off screen] thanks, micah! [off screen] bye, guys. bye. see ya. oh my god!

every day, more people connect face to face on the iphone than any other phone. i miss you.

jim, i'm begging you to let my daughter go. you've taken everything else. >> reporter: august 6th, a father's desperate plea to a killer, a kidnapper and a once very close friend. >> i was sort of the guy in the middle of the group of friends. >> reporter: andrew knew james dimaggio and his sister for half a dozen years. he calls the technician at the scripps research institute quite simply, a normal guy. >> he wasn't loud or outgoing, wasn't shy or retreative or is lative. he was very much the friendly guy that was along for the ride, but didn't stick out one way or the other. there was nothing odd about him.

>> reporter: at least that's what everyone thought. dimaggio grew up like the andersons in the san diego suburbs. with his sister and mother, his parents were divorced and his father was not a stable influence. >> the father was a methamphetamine addict. that is a very cruel drug. it makes people delusional. >> his friend says they were protected from some of it until their mother died. dimaggio and his sister laura lived with their father a car sailsman where they suffered years of abuse. >> jim was abandoned with laura by their father. he would leave them with macaroni and cheese and boxes of it. jim would fish to catch fish to feed him and his sister. >> reporter: by the late '80s, dimaggio was a high schooler

here in el cajon. >> he told me at that time he was in love with me and has stuck around for me. wanted to take me away from my mom and give me a good life. >> reporter: after she refused, she says dimaggio's dad broke into her house armed with a shotgun and handcuffs, threatening to kill her, her boyfriend and her brother. >> asked him to please not kill us. he said, don't worry, it will be over quick. >> reporter: she was able to escape. the elder dimaggio was arrested while out on bail he had more run-ins with the law. eventually ending up in prison. he never forgot that young girl and made sure his son let her know. came up to me third period. it was between classes before lunch saying his father was out and he would be waiting for me after school. >> reporter: a difficult childhood surrounded by drugs, violence, abuse and ultimately suicide.

dimaggio's father killed himself on august 10th, 1995. dark secrets dimaggio hid from those around him, even the anderson family. >> never heard a thing about any of that. we had been all shocked about this news, all of it. it's just horrible. i feel sorry that he didn't get help. i wish that he had and maybe this wouldn't have happened. >> reporter: maybe the andersons wouldn't have allowed him to get so close, but they did. especially earlier this year when brett and christina separated. brett moved to tennessee. christina stayed alone in california with hannah and ethan. david braun is christina anderson's uncle. >> i think that's where this fellow maybe moved in on tina a little bit. >> reporter: braun says some family members were slightly suspicious of why this divorced man spent so much time with the

andersons, especially the kids. >> my brothers wondered about this guy because, maybe not before, about you they kind of out of place with the family, but they didn't -- it's not their business, you know? >> reporter: no one wanted to rock the boat. christina needed help with the kids. she trusted dimaggio like a brother. >> she was very careful, very protective mother. she never would have let those kids be alone with him or anything if there were any sign, truly. >> reporter: there was a sign though, but hannah kept is secret from everyone except her best friend marissa chavez. >> he just said he had a crush on her. then he said, don't think i'm weird or creepy uncle jim. i just want you to know if you were my age, i'd date you. >> she never mentioned anything like that to any of the family. i know she wouldn't have wanted to hurt anyone, make anyone else not trust jim.

i really wish she had come to someone, trusted someone to say something. >> reporter: but she didn't. in the end of june, hannah even agreed to go to hollywood for a week with jim to celebrate her 16th birthday. just the two of them. >> some of us felt it's kind of weird, a little bit weird, but given jim's been part of the family for so long, not super out of place. we all trusted him, but still as hannah got older, it was a little weird. i mentioned it. she said, she's been on vacations with him before. it's uncle jim. >> reporter: they were supposed to go away for a week, but came back a couple of days early, according to marissa, jim was angry. hannah spent a lot of time talking on the phone, messaging friends and posting pictures on the internet. >> the things he would get upset looking back on it were things

like people not paying attention or people being on their phone inappropriately. that's typical for jim that he would want respect as an adult and as a father figure. he tried very hard to maintain that role at all times. >> reporter: by august, yet another sign. >> he had lost a tremendous amount of weight. he looked completely different. that worried me a little bit. kind of wasn't the same cheerful guy, more quiet, more reserved. thin. didn't understand he's so thin. i know he worked out all the time. i didn't understand why he was so thin. that worried me. >> i think he was desperate. he had had several losses in his life recently. he had a favorite car that had crashed and insurance wouldn't replace. he had some financial problems. and he felt isolated. he had become to complain a little bit about being depressed. >> reporter: a depression that potentially turned a normal guy into a killer and kidnapper.

>> he obviously broke down and couldn't handle it any more and snapped, so to speak. >> reporter: now the race was on to find him before he took another life. >> we had every reason to believe that he was likely armed. certainly dangerous. see life in the best light.

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four days after jim dimaggio kidnapped hannah anderson, the two were nowhere to be found. the case was growing cold. until a former sheriff and his wife stumbled upon two hikers while horseback riding with friends near the mountains in cascade, idaho. >> they has tennis shoes on, what looked like pajama bottoms. that's just like a square peg going in a round role. they just didn't fit there. >> a man and young girl hiking in the idaho wilderness out of place and unprepared. mike and mary young were riding

with the johns. >> i think we caught them kind of by surprise. she had a real look of fear on her face. when i looked at him, i didn't like what i seen there. it was just one of them deals where it makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. >> reporter: the johns and youngs fished and readied the horses for the ride home. >> we started riding out and looked up and there they were. he was standing on the side of the bank and he was holding a cat in his arm and stroking it like that. i asked him, i said what are you doing with the cat? he just kind of looked at me. i said, they'll bring a wolf or mountain lion into your camp real quick. >> krista john sensed the girl was in trouble and wanted to approach her. >> mark says, no, just stay here.

so we just rode out. it just wouldn't leave our minds. it just didn't leave our minds at all. >> reporter: as soon as they returned home that evening, they realized their instincts were right. >> police are looking for a man named james dimaggio. >> reporter: they had just come face-to-face with a killer and his captive. hannah anderson. >> i came back in the house and happened to look up at the television and the amber alert was on and i see a picture of this blonde-haired girl. i said to my wife, that's the girl we've seen up on the mountain. we talked it over and i called the state police right then. >> reporter: ralph powell is director of the idaho state police. >> he says, i am sure these are the two people. this is your amber alert. >> reporter: it was the strongest lead yet. the johns could point to the area they spotted hannah and dimaggio on a map, deep inside a wilderness area called the river

of no return. andrea dearden. >> there are peaks, rocks, not a lot of flat land at all. there is no road access in. you cannot drive on this land. >> the other thing about this vast wilderness area, it is dotted with rivers and lakes everywhere. freshwater. if one wanted to survive out here, you could. even though dimaggio could easily hide, authorities knew he couldn't run. >> the terrain made a challenge, but it also helped us. this isn't an area you can get across quickly. >> reporter: but authorities could move quickly. just 30 minutes after meeting the johns, they had another clue. dimaggio's car hidden under piles of brush. >> so they're traveling slowly along this forest service road

and way off into the woods, he catches just a glimpse, just a split second a red flash. and caught the reflective lens of a tail lamp just as their patrol car was just in that exact place. >> reporter: on saturday, august 10th, seven days after hannah went missing, the fbi assembled an army of specially-trained agents. >> first they had to pinpoint hannah and dimaggio's exact location from the air. >> this wasn't just a regular plane. this is a plane equipped with flare, which is assisted largely by military. they were able to describe everything from this is how she is dressed, she has her hair in a bun. as we were observing at least at one point hannah, we saw hannah waving a brightly-colored cloth toward the sky. so as to signal us.

>> i remember being in the command center at the time. a few minutes later, you heard someone say "and a cat." we had heard from the horseback riders that these two had a cat with them. not something you normally see in idaho back country on a camping trip. so when we heard that, i can remember thinking, okay, that's them. and she's alive. let's do this. >> next, two fbi hostage rescue teams were dropped from helicopters deep into the woods. a two-hour hike to dimaggio's camp. they quietly surrounded it and waited for the perfect chance. >> those two hours were pretty tense. we had every reason to believe that he was likely armed, certainly dangerous. >> i think there were a hundred or more feet between dimaggio and hannah at the time tactical activities started. that distance was increasing. >> they infiltrated and jim

dimaggio had a rifle. he fired it once. the second time he fired, he was killed probably instantly by the fbi hostage rescue team. >> reporter: it was over. dimaggio was dead, 18 years to the day after his father committed suicide. and one week after she was taken, hannah anderson was rescued. >> this was a, started in earnest yesterday morning and today less than 36 hours later, she is home and she is safe. hannah is safe and that was the best outcome we were hoping for. >> she has been through a tremendous, horrific ordeal. i am very proud of her and i love her very much. >> reporter: hannah was home, safe and starting to heal. >> it's an hour by hour